1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to access over local telephony traffic detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Under federal regulations, calls that are carried by inter-exchange carriers (IXC), and (including CLEC, INDP etc.) are assessed with access charges, that are payable by the IXC to the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC). The egress calls that originate from the ILEC network to the IXC network are assessed with an originating access charge while the ingress calls that terminate into the ILEC network from the IXC are assessed with a terminating access charge, both of which are payable by the IXC carrier. These access charges are part of a tariff rate structure that has been in effect since divestiture.
Recently, IXC carriers appear to have been routing traffic in such a manner as to avoid paying terminating access charges to ILEC carriers. This terminating access by-pass has a significant financial impact to the ILEC carriers and is considered a violation to standing tariffs. The IXC carriers have the capability to terminate this access traffic over local facilities through the use of CLEC affiliates and/or Less Cost Route (LCR) providers. ILEC providers refer to this type of traffic as Access-Over-Local.
Identifying and quantifying the extent of Access-Over-Local traffic is an ILEC revenue retention issue. Accordingly, there is a need for a method of detecting Access-Over-Local traffic.